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Mandela Washington Fellowship returns to Indiana University in summer 2022

Posted on by Brittaney Hartzer

The 2022 Mandela Washington Fellows pose for a group picture at IU Bloomington’s Hamilton Lugar School of Global and International Studies

Indiana University is proud to announce its selection as an Institute Partner for the 2022 Mandela Washington Fellowship for Young African Leaders. On June 8, Indiana University welcomed 24 of Africa’s bright, emerging civic engagement leaders and is hosting a six-week Leadership Institute, sponsored by the U.S. Department of State.

The Mandela Washington Fellowship, the flagship program of the Young African Leaders Initiative (YALI), empowers young African leaders through academic coursework, leadership training, mentoring, networking, professional opportunities, and local community engagement. YALI was created in 2010 and supports young Africans as they spur economic growth and prosperity, strengthen democratic governance, and enhance peace and security across Africa. Since 2014, the U.S. Department of State has supported nearly 5,100 Mandela Washington Fellows from across Sub-Saharan Africa to develop their leadership skills and foster connections and collaboration with U.S. professionals. The cohort of Fellows hosted by Indiana University will be part of a group of 700 Mandela Washington Fellows hosted at 27 educational institutions across the United States.

After their Leadership Institutes, Fellows will participate in the Mandela Washington Fellowship Summit, where they will take part in networking and panel discussions with each other and with U.S. leaders from the public, private, and non-profit sectors. Following the Summit, up to 100 competitively-selected Fellows will participate in four weeks of professional development with U.S. non-governmental organizations, private companies, and government agencies.

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IU names new associate vice president for Overseas Study

Posted on by Brittaney Hartzer

Indiana University has named Jennifer Engel, Ph.D. as its new associate vice president for the Office of Overseas Study, effective July 1. She will provide leadership and a university-wide vision to enhance international awareness and understanding, enrich curricula on every campus, and expand educational opportunities abroad for students from diverse backgrounds.

Engel is taking the helm of an office that has become a nationally recognized leader in overseas study under the forty-year leadership of Kathleen Sideli, who will retire in June. Building on a history of faculty-initiated study abroad programs dating back to the 19th century, it now supervises more than 380 administered, co-sponsored, and unit-based programs across all IU campuses. IU Bloomington is ranked sixth in the nation for total number of students studying abroad and second for semester-long programs, according to the most recent Institute for International Education Open Doors Report.

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Student researchers across the globe join forces to address climate action 

Posted on by Lexi Baker

A lake in the shape of the world’s continents in the middle of untouched nature.

In the face of disasters like North America’s record-breaking heat waves, fatal flooding in China and Germany, and Australian wildfires, climate change has quickly become our deadly reality. Recent years have seen individuals bear the weight of advocacy against environmental emergency. Their action takes many forms, from metal straws to climate protests — but citizens are not alone in their fight to save our planet. The United Nations adopted a set of goals to address the most dire, worldwide crises of our time. The UN Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) cover a wide range of issues, promoting awareness and research on 17 different environmental and humanitarian challenges. Among ambitions like clean water, gender equality, and responsible consumption, the SDGs emphasize the necessity of global collaboration in solving urgent sustainability issues.  

That is why IU became a founding member of the U.S. chapter of the Sustainable Development Solutions Network (SDSN) in 2018 and launched the UN SDG Poster Competition in 2019. After its initial success, IU invited international partner universities to join the effort and formed the UN SDG Partner Network, which spans five continents and includes institutions from seven countries. Within this unique setting, students integrate multiple perspectives into collective learning and problem solving, transcending boundaries, and acting in local and global contexts.

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Indiana University and Associate Vice President Kathleen Sideli receive CIEE Bridge Builder Awards

Posted on by Brittaney Hartzer

Kathleen Sideli (second from the right) in Madrid, Spain as a graduate assistant for the IU-Purdue-Wisconsin program in 1980-1981

The Council on International Educational Exchange (CIEE) was founded in 1947, in the wake of World War II, to advance peace through people-to-people exchange. To celebrate 75 years of building bridges of respect and mutual understanding across cultures, CIEE presented 75 CIEE Bridge Builder Awards to those individuals and institutions – from host families to study abroad advisors, from politicians to employers – whose efforts and influence over the last 75 years have strengthened international education and exchange.

Indiana University and Kathleen Sideli were both honored to be chosen as recipients for advancing peace by strengthening intercultural exchange programs.

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